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Released on November 10, 2014 via Ritual Productions
I’ve said this many a time, but 2014 has been the official year of doom. I’m not sure how or why, but doom bands are playing bigger venues and not only that, but selling them out too. I don’t think I ever went to a sold out doom gig before this year. Maybe the fact that so many bands have absolutely fucking nailed their albums this year has something to do with it, bands like Bast, Bong, Slomatics, Bongripper, Electric Wizard, The Body … I could go on and on. Anyway, as we lie on the floor twitching as a result of being exposed to more down-tuned assaults than we can possibly deal with, 11Paranoias show up with Stealing Fire from Heaven. Can we possibly handle another? Of course we can.
This release boasts some serious pedigree, Mike Vest from Bong etc on guitar and Adam Richardson from Ramesses on bass and vocal duties. If you imagined these bands as galaxies and these galaxies smashed into each other, then that pretty much sums up 11Paranoias, which is an epic cosmic fusion of the two. In this epic collision there are things happening that are out and out chaotic, some which are scary and intense and others pockets of pure weird. That’s how this album feels, a diverse exploration of an unknown place where anything could happen at any time. On top of that, Richardson’s vocals are fucking mean throughout, Old Man Gloom mean. He almost sounds like a monster from the bottom of the swamp who’s been awoken after thousands of years and has come up to give us all a right good bollocking about it.
Stealing Fire from Heaven feels a little messy at times and a little unpolished, but that’s not a bad thing in any way. Like they’ve recorded an improv jam and we’re left with something that’s real… seriously fucking real. There’s a point on ‘Surrealise’ where they fire first time and if you don’t get the hairs on your back standing up then maybe give up on listening to heavy music. There are other jaw dropping highlights, which just seem to come out of the smog without warning like the almost Bongripper style riffing on ‘At the Cursus’ and when the krauty space rock bit happens on ‘Lost to Smoke’, it’s far too difficult to begin to comprehend.
What you have here is 3 amazing musicians and a fuck load of magic. They have channelled this magic to create something stupidly heavy and decided to keep it about as raw as you can get. Nothing else to say really, AMAZING!
